FOSSIL COLLECTIVE

ONCE IN A WHILE A BAND UNEARTHS SOMETHING NEW WHICH FEELS TIMELESS. CHIPPING AWAY AT ROCK WITH ITS OWN UNIQUE SET OF TOOLS. EXCAVATING – AND BENDING – THE CLASSIC SONGWRITING BONES WHICH STRETCH BACK DECADES.

David Fendick and Jonny Hooker, both enormously talented ex-alumni of mid-to-late-noughties cult band Vib Gyor, manage all of that with their latest project Fossil Collective. An acoustic-folk/indie-rock sound is a skeleton, drums straightening spine, bass guitar building up muscle, ambient guitar or keyboard washes layering over sinew, fibre and skin. But it’s Fossil Collective’s mesmerising harmony vocals which provide a heart, pumping their system with a curiously blended and vital life-blood of brittle melancholy and unbridled joy. The pair are on the verge of issuing a second EP following the release of their opener earlier in 2012. The hugely anticipated debut album is due to follow in the first half of 2013. But, for now, Dave and Jonny – plus selected other members of the Collective – are on the road to promote ON AND ON, the new EP.

Having met up earlier in the year for a quick chat at the Galtres Festival, it was a real pleasure for The Mouth Magazine to reconvene with the duo – all piled onto the front seats of the band’s van shortly before the opening gig of their tour – to record a more in-depth Mouthcast. The keys were in, the motor was running… They talked to us about how 17 year-olds uploading clips to YouTube featuring covers of Fossil Collective songs both flatters and bemuses them, gave us an update on the progress of the debut album, and let us in on why it’s best to pick and choose your parties on tour…

In addition, we were absolutely delighted to be able to commission Fossil Collective to play The Mouth Magazine’s first ever exclusive live video session. We couldn’t have hoped for a better way to kick things off. Dave and Jonny gave us an intimate and astonishingly charged performance of debut single LET IT GO. Out of shot, dear reader, The Mouth Magazine team were rather moved by the performance, and were loaded with that aforementioned curious blend of joy and melancholy: a real privilege to be at such close quarters during such a great moment from… well… such a great band. You’d be well advised to go experience something of that feeling for yourself on Fossil Collective’s current tour.